Lock and Dam No. 2 is located along the Upper Mississippi River near Hastings, Minnesota and was originally built in 1907. The eastern dam portion is 722 feet (220 m) wide and has 19 tainter gates. A hydroelectric station that produces about 4.4 megawatts is owned by the city of Hastings, while the 110 × 600 foot (34 × 183 m) lock is operated by the St. Paul district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Mississippi Valley Division. There's also a wide earthen dam on the western side of the facility.

Following construction, the original lock walls settled and began to lean out of alignment, so a replacement lock was built. It was finished in 1948. A rehabilitation phase ran from 1987 to 1995.